Final Prediction for The Legend of Zelda U/NX

Due to Nintendo´s quasi-absence from this year´s E3-convention, I´ll reduce my yearly prediction in the same way Nintendo reduced their E3 appearance. So let´s talk about The Legend of Zelda U!

Without further ado, I will outline a rough draft of what we´re about to see when Zelda U is finally unveiled. There are three main elements that I expect to see:

1.) Drastic Usage Time Stones

One of the few high points of Skyward Sword was the Lanaryu desert with its time stone-feature. Let´s remember: You could activate said time stones to create a radial bubble. Everything inside that bubble would be changed to a different time, in this case the past. What I imagine for Zelda U is that this time, Link can create such a time bubble at any given time anywhere he wants to do so. This would add an entire second layer to the known overworld. It also invites the player to experiment, carefully choosing the center of the time bubble to make certain things happen. As the player proceeds the game, the diameter of the time bubble could grow and allow for more freedom and options. And last but not least: What if there were more than just one time shift? I imagine gaining access to several time planes, maybe even such that would cross with events of popular past series-entries. Picture creating a time bubble in front of Castle Hyrule, only to become witness of young hero of time-Link meeting Ganondorf, as the Great Demon Lord chases after Impa and Zelda!

Mobile time stones would make for great, experiment-inviting gameplay and bear the potential for lots of nostalgic innuendo.

2.) Sex Choice

It´s been rumored plenty and Emily Rogers basically confirmed it. Despite no official word from Nintendo, I can see this being real. Although I´d hope for a full-fledged character editor, otherwise the next five year will be spent with the SJW-community demanding a black Link at any given occasion. Just dive fully into it, Nintendo.

Since the hero shard is male, though, I have also come up with an idea that would make perfect sense in the context of a female protagonist. The game would indeed be set between Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker. It´d finally tell the story of an age where there was no hero and the world had to be flooded to keep Ganon in check.Both male and female hero could be mere good-natured characters who try to fight evil. This would make it the first Zelda-game without a “Chosen One”, which per se would be plenty interesting. Many fans have been skeptical about telling the story of a failed hero, but that´s not necessarily true, since we don´t have enough information about what really happened.

3.) Link is the author of the Book of Mudora

Zelda U´s Link is always carrying a book on his belt – why? My 6th sense is telling me that Link will be using the book to write down certain things. Since there is only one prominent book in the Zelda-series, I assume this will be the origin of the Book of Mudora, playing a huge role in A Link to the Past. I imagine that this Link is not your typical dungeon-clearer who enters a dungeon to save the world. No, this Link is an author and constructor, a true dungeon master, who is on a journey to inspect dungeons and check and verify their operational status. He will make notes in the book about each dungeon. And once the player has beaten a dungeon, he notifies the goddesses, who then place a gem or whatever reward inside the dungeon. For heroes of a later era to find!

This lines up with the time stones, as mentioned above. Traveling to various points in time to check if the dungeon works for future Chosen Heroes. If not, he´d have to go back and go as far as to change the dungeons by requesting the goddesses to do so.All of that would give the dungeons are very real, natural purpose, instead of being those gamey, abstract puzzle-places they´ve been in the past. And it´d give long-time fans an exciting look behind the curtain. Maybe it´s finally time to explore the eternal circle between Link, Zelda and Ganon?